Judge frees 5 suspected human traffickers: 'Victims were not forced into sex'

Five people charged with bringing Ukrainian women into Israel to work as prostitutes were released on bail over the weekend. In her ruling, Tel Aviv District Court Judge Dalia Ganot said the state does not have sufficient evidence to get a conviction for human trafficking.

"None of the complaintants was forced to have sex either for free or to pay for the expense of bringing them to Israel," Ganot wrote. "And no evidence was brought from which one can infer the existence of supervision or control over the movements of the plaintiffs or the scope of their work."

The prosecution will not appeal the defendants' release and said it expects to prove the charges during the trial. Prosecution officials said Ganot did find evidence that most of the defendants had brought people into the country to work as prostitutes, and accordingly set a high bail.

MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz-Yahad), who heads the Knesset subcommitte on trafficking in women, said Ganot appears not to have internalized the law against trafficking in women. She said the reasons the court gave "reflect insensitivity and inflexibility."

"It's too bad the judge has not succeeded in understanding that anyone who treats a woman as an object, as currency - even if he takes them to the gyncologist or to Superland [an amusement park], for all his kindness, is dangerous to society and its values, and should be behind bars," she said.

Ganot wrote in her ruling that the two complainants seemed to have freedom of movement, noting that one of the defendants said he took them to the gynecologist and the supermarket, as well as the beach and Superland.

Retired Tel Aviv District Court judge Shelly Timan supported the ruling, saying Ganot showed courage in making the right decision while condemning human trafficking, especially when the women are put to work as prostitutes.

"The pressure exerted on the prosecution to continue to 'revive' the phenomenon - which is disappearing, if it still exists at all - by charging pimps with human trafficking," said Timan, "verges on scandalous."

The indictment comprises one of the most serious charges in a case involving the trafficking of women. Alexander Zaiman, Mashiah Hahiashvili and Marina Hahiashvili were charged with conspiring with Ukrainians to bring women to Israel to work as prostitutes and collect payment for it. The two other defendants are Benny Mirilashvili and Binyamin Ben-Naim.

The two complainants told police that when they needed money a woman in Ukraine named Lena convinced them to go to Israel to work as prostitutes.